We live in number 24 on the list of richest counties but we are as middle class as it’s gets. I wonder how living here, surrounded by immense amounts of highly concentrated wealthy families effects the way we approach money, at least psychologically?

Everybody has heard of the “Keeping up with the Joneses” phenomenon. Originally proposed by James Duesenberry as the, “Relative Income Hypothesis” stating that, an individual’s attitude to consumption and saving is guided more by his income in relation to others than by an abstract standard of living.

So living amongst rich people MAY provide a more powerful motivator to consume and save than our own internal reality of how we approach wealth.

I’m really not sure how much outside influences have on how my family saves and spends. I like to think it has ZERO influence. But c’mon, no man is an island and all that. It has to effect us in some way.

How much does environment play into our perception of wealth and how does that effect our pursuit of wealth?

I can only speak anecdotally, but I do wince a little inside when my daughter’s new friend invites her over to play and her garage is bigger than our house. Our kids will attend the same blue-ribbon public school so we also benefit tremendously in spite of any inferiority I may feel.

I think as long as you don’t fall prey to “conspicuous consumption” the benefits of living surrounded by wealth outweigh any downsides. At this point of our “financial enlightenment” we don’t feel the need to buy stuff to prove anything. And we never really did “just buy stuff”, we were sloppy with our money and let it control us instead of vise versa. We are now focused on our own financial house. What may have been feelings of envy towards the 20 BMW’s in the preschool parking lot have been replaced with motivation. The motivation is not for us to “be rich” but for us to live for ourselves, and never mind the masses.

The wince of inferiority I feel in the face of all the wealth I see on a daily basis WILL SOON be replaced with the pride of having control of the money and the future we do have. And all the while our family will live simply and take advantage of the amazing schools, the safety of the community and it’s beautiful parks. Thanks richy-riches!

We have an annual neighborhood halloween party, and after a few drinks, one of the ladies started ragging on our public public school system, but was hushed by the host. It seems like practically everybody on my street goes to this private school. The funny thing is, the reasons we moved to this small city was because of the quality of the public school… go figure…

As for the cars… at the company I work at, it seems everybody has a fancy foreign car (BMW, Audi, Lexus, etc), except me. I have a luxurious slightly beat up 2003 Chevy Malibu. :)

We live in a county normally in the top 50 with one town near us that is usually one of the top 10 cities to live in. BMW’s in the local parking lot, awesomely fantastic schools. SUV’s everywhere. It is tough to not get into that rat race, but it helped that we have seen how a sense of entitlement can wreck a kid, so we focus on that for our kiddos.

What is nice, is our goodwill has some fantastic clothes! hah. Thanks neighbors. Oh and we have trash days, were people put anything large they want thrown out- stuff I would consider new is in our house due to that:)

This is one of my favorite posts to date! You raise so many interesting questions. Love your point about living for yourself, avoiding “conspicuous consumption,” and appreciating the beauty of simplicity. Maybe I should return the pink fur coats I just bought for my five chihuahuas…

Haha, I suppose you can always look at the bright side of things. For me, family members hold greater influence to spend money on lifestyle upgrade. Your average neighbours won’t comment on your basic couch, but your parents might :D

[…] What’s it like to live in one of America’s 25 richest counties? Stay at Home Mom CFO asks us to examine whether living in affluent areas affects your spending habits. I’ll resist the urge to rant at length on that topic right now . . . although it’s very tempting. […]

Yes, I live in one of those 25 counties mentioned. My house is one of the least expensive in town but it’s enough for the 4 of us. We moved here for the school. I hope as they grow older, they won’t feel inferior either; we’re doing our best to teach them how we’re using & saving money. I don’t feel inferior because I know why I’m not living in a more expensive house; we’re saving for our future, our kids’ future, and becoming financially independent is more important to me than a bigger house.

[…] What It’s Like to Live in 1 of America’s 25 Richest Counties – It has its pros and cons, but if you don’t spend too much trying to ‘Keep Up with the Jones’, they’re apparently pretty good, overall. […]